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Political campaign worker Luigi Wewege pocketed $13,000 for just three months' work on John Palino's failed Auckland mayoral bid - a sum that has surprised volunteers on other political campaigns.

Wewege was the man Bevan Chuang says pressured her to blow the whistle on her affair with mayor Len Brown before the election. Chuang and Wewege were in a relationship at the time, she says. He denied her claims, but has left New Zealand for the United States.

His payment is noted in Palino's election donations and expenses return, which had to be filed by Friday. Palino also paid $13,800 to Textile Associates, a company owned by campaign manager John Slater.

Slater's son Cameron exposed Brown's affair on the Whale Oil blog, days after he was returned as mayor.

Public relations consultant David Lewis volunteered as Len Brown's campaign manager in the lead-up to October's election. He said the Brown campaign paid only $11,885 in wages, split between "two or three" younger staff who needed to be paid.

"I have the luxury of having other clients. But we had a couple of young people who had to put food on the table," he said. "In a campaign, you want to get as much bang for your buck as possible, so you try to limit what goes out."

Chuang said last night that the $13,000 was money poorly spent, given Wewege undermined his own candidate's reputation. "I knew he was paid," she said. "I didn't know how much, but I don't really care. Given how Luigi only managed to destroy Palino's political reputation, it was obviously far too much."

Former Labour Party president Mike Williams doubted Wewege had "much to offer", but he considered $1000 a week was cheap.